Transformers News on Seibertron.com

What are the Animorphs?

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Views: 349,114

As much as the fans of Transformers would like everything to be black and white, Autobot and Decepticon, we all know and must accept the fact that the Transformers will and are going to take turns here and there.

The toy giant Hasbro, makers of the ever popular Transformers toy line, released its newest addition to the Transformers in March called the Animorphs. Many people may know the Animorphs from the popular series of books published by Scholastic, Inc aimed at roughly the Junior High School reading level, and has since branched out into television and a toy line.

The Animorphs are a young band of teenagers who were given the power to change into any animal they touch. Together they battle against the Yeerks whose ultimate goal is to enslave the human race.

While the Animorphs concept has nothing to do with the Transformers mythologies, it certainly has a similar concept to the current Transformers toy line. Each character in the Animorphs toy line "morphs" or transforms into a beast mode such as Jake who turns into a tiger.

Most fans will remember other turning points in Transformers history such as the Pretenders, Action Masters, and even the whole Beast Wars series. For fans who are not thrilled that the Animorphs are being marketed as Transformers, at least be happy that Hasbro didn't try pawning off the Animorphs concepts as part of the actual Transformers mythos such as the Autobots and Decepticons or Maximals and Predacons.

Future plans for the Animorphs toy line will include a combined Tyrannasaurus Rex figure, consisting of three of the Animorph human characters. Episodes of Animorphs air on Nickelodeon and books are available at most book stores.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #10 (May 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Trans-Forum International's "SEIBERTRON"

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Views: 358,011

Almost two years ago, Trans-Forum International announced its plans to launch its own comic book series. The official release will be before the year 2000 as Trans-Forum will unveil its newest project. The comic book will be titled "SEIBERTRON." The first story arc will be called The Nucleon War. It takes place twelve years after the end of the American cartoon series in the year 2019.

The heroic Autobots are lead by their legendary commander Optimus Prime. The major Autobots in this story arc will be Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Perceptor, and Blaster. Their goal is to obtain the Nucleon to save one of the Autobots whose Spark has almost gone offline and to prevent the Decepticons from getting the Nucleon and becoming even a more dangerous threat.

The evil Decepticons are lead by the maniacal Galvatron in a quest to overthrow the Transformers home world Cybertron and to enslave all of the Autobots.

The art, drawn by Ryan Yzquierdo is a cross between the American and Japanese cartoons with a very distinct look. Sketches will be available here in the pages of Trans-Forum and Trans-Forum Online in the upcoming months as images become available.

It is uncertain how long each installment of SEIBERTRON will be or even if there will be a set number of pages. It is also unknown how the installment volumes will be priced.

SEIBERTRON will be published by Trans-Forum International.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

The Next Phase: NEO

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Views: 364,382

During the last decade or so, the Super Lifeform Transformers, as the Transformers are known in Japan, have taken many various twists and turns.

The Japanese culture has dictated several unproduced in America Transformers toy figures/ characters and lines.

The first case example, would be the variant Transformers line titled "Victory" series in which very few Transformers from the American series (and modified at that such as Dinoking / Monstructor) saw production in Japan and vice versa. The Autobots and Decepticons (known as Cybertrons and Destrons in Japan) were lead by Victory Saber and Deszaurus (Deathsaurus) respectively. Later the exclusive Japanese Transformers would be followed by these series: "Transformers: Zone," "Transformers: Return of Convoy," "Transformers: Scramble City", and "Transformers Mission: Combination."

After the initial success of the Beast Wars Transformers line in Japan, Takara was anxious to continue production on their new hot selling item. The interest in the Transformers toy line had been renewed. Takara frantically began search for ideas to expand the toy line.

Soon, Takara (the creator of the first Transformers toys under the names Diaclone and Microman) retooled and repainted several of the American Beast Wars Transformers under one group titled the Cybertrons (Maximals). The second retooling and repainting came under a group of Decepticons toys mainly produced under the "Generation 2" banner in America between 1993 - 1994 and the "Machine Wars" banner during 1997. All of these machine-like Transformers fell under the group titled Destrons.

Thus, a new story line developed called "Beast Wars Second," pitting the heroic beast-like Cybertrons against the evil machine-like Destrons on the artificial planet known as Gaea.

AFter roughly forty cel-animated cartoons were released, the Beast Wars Second series came to an end.

Now, looms the next phase of the Beast Wars in Japan. The new series, "Beast Wars NEO," hopes to bring as much success as have the other Beast Wars Transformers releases in Japan. This time, the heroic Cybertrons take on the forms of animals while the evil Destrons take on the forms of dinosaurs.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Beast Hunters Transformers

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Views: 361,071

The future of the Transformers now rests in the hands of FOX KIDS. In addition to picking up the 52 episodes of Beats Wars, Fox Kids is launching a new series called Beast Hunters for the 1999-2000 television season.

"Beast Hunters, the next evolution of the popular Beast Wars franchise, continue their fight against the evil dragon Megatron and his hordes of Predacons in 13 all-new episodes with cutting-edge computer animation, action and humor, produced by Mainframe Entertainment." states a FOX representative.

Story editors for the series are Bob Skir and Marty Isenberg, who have worked on numerous genre series and also wrote the story bible for the new Avengers series on FOX.

"My reaction is YEEEEE-HA!" said Skir of Fox picking up the Beast Hunters. "I absolutely love that network, and have enjoyed great success with them. Do the names X-Men, Batman, Beetlejuice, and Godzilla ring a bell?"

"They do great shows there and the longer I'm with them, the happier I am." Skir provided some early details about the show. "We're doing 13 episodes for our first season, hopefully with more to follow; especially since we're thinking of this as an ongoing story with more than 13 chapters to it so far," Skir said. "The show's hook? It's the characters you loved from Beast Wars ... fighting a very different was on a very different world."

Sounds interesting, hopefully more info will be available in the coming days.

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transmetal 2: Second Arrival

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Views: 368,276

Transmetals II (or is it 2) are now in stores! You may have noticed the slight difference in the logo which has changed the roman numeral II to the numeric "2". Why you ask??? The last-minute (or slightly thereafter) change was made to make sure that all of the younger fans, that haven't quite learned Roman numerals, would be able to recognize the new figures as the second generation of Transmetals. And it just looks a little better!

Hasbro recently announced six more toys for the Transmetal II line. Mega Blackarachnia, Mega Cybershark (due out in February), a deluxe owl, a deluxe grasshopper, a basic Spittor (shown below) and Stinkbomb (a skunk with a serrated razor tail). All are tentatively scheduled to be released in June.

These six Transmetal 2 Transformers will feature the Spark Crystal Maximal or Predacon badge. This set will be in addition to the six that have already been released. Deluxe Cheetor, Deluxe Ramulus, Deluxe Dinobot II, Basic Sonar, Basic Optimus Minor, and Basic Scarem are all available at most toy stores such as Toys R' Us, Wal Mart, K-Mart, Kay Bee Toys, and Target.

Rumor has it that the Beast Wars 3rd season (now airing) will end the current story line. Supposedly, the Beast Wars Transformers are rescued by Cybertron in the episode titled "Nemesis (Part Two)" written by none other than Simon Furman (Transformers, Transformers Generation 2 - Marvel Comics Entertainment Group). What will the Beast Wars bring for the toy, the cartoon, and the comic in the year 2000? Beast Wars: Generation 2? Maybe...

This article was originally published in TRANS-FORUM #9 (March 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transformers: Year 16

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Views: 378,780

Text from Hasbro's Transformers website at http://www.beastwars.com/figures/

In 1984, while consumers were worshipping at the altar of the Cabbage Patch Kid doll, another toy line made its quiet debut, only this time it was in the action figure aisle. No one could know that in time, this brand would have its own set of rabid collectors, desperate parents, toy clones, a television series, an animated movie, a death, and a rebirth. And no one could know that this rebirth would also be a revolution of sorts, as the newest technologies brought this toy and its story to amazing new life. Of course, the toy line is The Transformers - an action toy with its foundations in Japanese animation and for some, Japanese toys themselves.

It is no coincidence that The Transformers line has lived to reach its 15th year. While 15 years is no small achievement, with the infinite variability in design, the versatility of the writers who continue to breathe life into the story, and with the enthusiasm of children of all ages, it is not hard to believe this line is one of the top ranking toys in the world today. In its current embodiment as Beast Wars, detailing the saga of two warring factions of robots on a prehistoric Earth, the spirit of The Transformers is as alive today as it was during its introduction in 1984.

To witness the impact The Transformers have made on the industry and in pop culture, just take a step back and look at their history. After the first few years of the toy's life a television cartoon series was created, detailing the adventures of these robots as they brought their intergalactic war to Earth. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the Decepticons, led by the diabolical Megatron, used the Earth as the battleground for their destructive conflict. This soon led to a theatrically released animated movie, introducing a whole new group of heroes and villains. After the cartoon series ended, the toy line continued to offer new and innovative transforming schemes through the late 1980s. Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters, Micromasters are just a few examples of the chapters which made their way into the continuous storyline, now solely being told by a comic book series. The comic ended in due time, as well as the line's first generation of toys. After a rebirth of the line with Generation 2 in the early 1990s, the newly merged Hasbro Toy group, consisting of long-time toy manufacturers Hasbro and Kenner, created the Beast Wars®. Two new factions, Maximals and Predacons, continued the struggle for supremacy begun by their ancestors centuries earlier. A new computer-generated animated series, created by Mainframe Entertainment, successfully dominates its time slot, and now cartoon fans watch with unblinking eyes as cutting-edge technologies bring this saga to life in a whole new way.

What does the future hold for The Transformers? One can only guess, but know this: through technology and imagination The Transformers will continue to surprise and entertain with limitless configurations. As we rush into the 21st century, remember the slogan that started it all in 1984 for The Transformers...they are more than meets the eye!

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM #8 (January 1999) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Transformers Comic Scheduled to be published summer 1999?!?

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Views: 377,591

Text downloaded from http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/primus/

The following "rumors" have come to light on the topic of the Bench Press Transformers comics. Bench Press has put their comics on hold indefinitely while Hasbro talks to Marvel Comics about taking on the license once more. Whether this would be for the Beast Wars comic only is still unclear.

Another source is claiming that Behnch Press never actually had the license and it was more wishful thinking. I'm sure that Bench Press were in discussion with Hasbro, but they have now opted to use Marvel instead.

Although this would of course prevent some wonderful titles from Bench Press, it would allow the Transformers story to continue in the correct continuity if Marvel does get the deal. Will Simon Furman write them though? This is the question on everyone's lips.

Hasbro says they have no "preview" information available. It does sound like Marvel will be printing the comics if they do ever come out.

Editor's Note (2003): This is actual news that was swirling around the Internet before the big Transformers sites existed like transfandom.com, tfw2005.com, tformers.com, and SEIBERTRON.com.

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Beast Wars Creative Team to change after Season 3

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Views: 385,458

Message from Bob Forward (10/21/1998). Text downloaded from http://www.beastwars.net.

As you may have heard, Season Three will be the last season of Beast Wars edited by Larry and myself. I sincerely hope this won't detract from the enjoyment of the series. We've had three great seasons and worked with a lot of really terrific people at Mainframe and Hasbro. We've met hundreds of Transformers fans and appreciated their input and support. All in all, we can hardly complain.

I can assure you that the change is nothing personal and we are not taking it that way. Hasbro has new plans for the series and it was felt that taking an entirely fresh approach with a new creative team would be the best way to handle it. This is very common in the animation industry - I myslef have been hired to replace excellent story editors for precisely the same reason. Larry and I are actually looking forward to some time off. The characters had become so real to use that I, for one, often found myself dreaming about them. In the cartoon industry this is known as "time to get off the show".

Never fear, you will not be left with an unresolved "cliffhanger" ending. Though the news comes too late to tie up all the threads, Simon and I are revising our season finale to be an actual closure of the current Beast Wars series. This will give the new show - whatever it may be titled - a "clean slate" from which to start.

Please give the new series a chance. Although I am not privvy to the storyline, it should certainly look spectacular and will most likely be excellent in its own right. After all, it will be animated by the fine artists at Mainframe and will no doubt continue to draw upon the rich history and traditions of the Transformers.

Larry and I feel privileged to have been at least one small part of that history, and hope that you will enjoy watching Season Three as much as we enjoyed working on it. You were all truly part of our inspiration.

'Till all are one -

Bob Forward

This article was published in TRANS-FORUM by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

Life Expectancy: the Future and Mortality

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Views: 413,471

Written by Michael Jenkins

In the history of all the entertainment mediums of fiction, the issue of mortality has always questioned the level of credibility - the reflection of reality - that any work of fiction produces.

In some works, such as satire, the issue of credibility is completely thrown out the window; the only reflection of reality is the subject which satire ridicules in its colorful and often humorous formats. So in the case of satire, the characters that we indulge in every morning in the newspaper comics are not bound by the issue of mortality; Charlie Brown will forever be known as the little boy, as he and his crew were created decades ago. As a contrast, many fictional entertainment mediums strive on continuum, in which mortality pays a crucial part. In countless numbers of novels and television shows, we are exposed to "alternate realities" that must be as believable as the creators can make them so that the audience comes back wanting more of the unexpected - a loose and distant derivative of the primal demand to stay alive. In these alternate realities, people and things are born, grow and die; relationships begin and end; people get along or fight; and decisions are made and carried out, for better or worse. Though these worlds are truly fictional, we enjoy them because they are strangely realistic - and we can somehow relate to and admire the characters in these worlds.

As for the Transformers, there is no strong continuum beyond the premise of them being sentient robots that can change their form as a tactical in battle. There are four or more alternate realities through which fans around the globe experience the "Robots In Disguise." It started in America in the early eighties in a morning cartoon series. But it soon spread to another medium; the comic book. Marvel Comics produced the TRANSFORMERS comic book series that reflected on events that occurred on TV, but the stories in no way paralleled. In the comics, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, and Ravage (Soundwave's cassettes) could talk unlike they could in the cartoon series. Ratbat talked as well, and even led his own barrage of Decepticons. Shockwave was a sworn enemy to Megatron and wrestled the Decepticon leader for power on occasion; that was in the comics. On the TV show, Shockwave was one of Megatron's most devoted followers. The TRANSFORMERS comic ran rampant with flesh-slug humans that got the upper hand or some such. The Cybertronians met G.I.Joe and Spider-Man. None of these events would dare happen on the TV show (except for that one episode that featured an elusive Cobra Commander). How could anyone say what actually happened or not with two different story lines going at the same time?

Apparently, this question was not an issue, because the UK released its own comic books series, which remained true to the TV show even after the movie and the television show's demise. The Japanese TV show continued to thrive long after the US stopped, deciding to change events and characters, and ignoring what occurred in the Transformers: Movie.

Unfortunately for the Transformers, there is no George Lucas to patrol what happens to the Autobots and Decepticons and their home planet of Cybertron; thus the numerous story lines. Freelance writers and fans (like myself) have even written stories that continue events, but no one monitors what happens and what shouldn't happen. Timothy Zahn could not make a move with his Thrawn Trilogy unless Lucas approved. Can this be a part of STAR WARS world success? So many people have so many ideas as to what direction the Transformers should take, and the Transformers have yet to reach fans on all mediums, as STAR TREK and STAR WARS have. There is no question the graphic novels, video games, role playing games, sin-off TV shows and even movies would sell and play as excellent PR for Transformers, if done correctly. But substance must be brought to them, a sense of reality. Mortality and continuum seem to be two of the crucial fibers in securing and substantiating an alternate reality.

MORTALITY

Though the mortality rule would help make the Transformers' universe a little more realistic and dramatic, not many fans argue with the numerous reincarnations of Optimus Prime and Megatron, two of the most recognized Transformers worldwide. Prime himself may be the most recognized Transformer in close to the almost two decades of the world's exposure to the Robots In Disguise.

Optimus Prime is extremely popular; he has up to seven different action figures in America to date claiming his name and fans were passionately displayed with his demise in the 1986 release of "Transformers: The Movie". As a result of the fan uproar, the creative staff of the TRANSFORMERS television show decided to coo the crying fans by returning Optimus to life, thus making the movie production team's major theme in the feature-length film "Cybertronians are mortal also" almost obsolete.

Megatron, on the other hand, possesses a different track record. Though he too is fairly popular, and has an equal number of action figure reincarnations (I include Galvatron), he did not cause any uproar with any death. Throughout the television series, the Imperial Decepticon Leader was notorious and uncanny for escaping death (much like Captain Kirk in STAR TREK). He pulled an ultimate bout of uncanny luck eluding ultimate oblivion when Unicron "slave-named" him Galvatron. The only reason why Megatron seemed so different was because of the damage caused to his mental circuits in the molten pit in which he was hurled into by Rodimus Prime. Overall, Megatron once again escaped death, and to this day suffices as leader of the "Decepticons (at least by American standards).

The credibility of mortality in these cases is fairly acceptable, due to excellent storytelling. A lot of story lines kill off characters, only to anti-climatically bring them back to life (thus being a major cop-out). Marvel Comics is notorious for killing off characters and then bringing them back with the typical "alternate universe", "time travelling", "oh I got out in time" mumbo-jumbo. It has happened so much (G.I.Joe screamed it) in the Marvel Universe that when you see a character killed off these days, you don't mourn because the character will pop up again in due time. But most fans seemed to have swallowed the bullet when Spock, Scotty and even Captain James Kirk escaped death to pop up in the 24th Century with Picard and crew. Fans did the same when Emperor Palpatine came back in the present accumulative of three times after his death in Return of the Jedi (due to a convenient plethora of Dark Side clones). All in all, the mortality rule can be bent a little with good storytelling. Megatron is not immortal, he just seems that way because of his tactical genius and sheer luck, and "relentless resilience". Prime is not immortal either, though I would personally like to see a better story that explains his return.

CONTINUUM

Where did the Cybertronians originate? Were they created by the sophisticated technology of the Quintessons; are they the children of the god-like Primus; are they the spawn of the super-computer Vector Sigma; did Unicron play a role in their creation; did the Liege Maximo play a part; or does the ultimate truth of Creation lie in all of these previous theories? How do the Cybertronians reproduce? Do they asexually do so in some form of soma-mitosis; do they extract key parts of their circuitry and build a unique personality matrix with the help of another Cybertronian; do they use the Matrix of Light to bring life to a lifeless machine; do they present the lifeless machine to Vector Sigma who grants life to that machine; or are all of the previous just the many examples of how Cybertronians reproduce? The two main questions of origination and reproduction have been major questions in Transformers continuum. Perhaps the origination of the Transformers does not have to be known, since we are not too sure of our own. Some fans may have adopted one of the "belief systems" and do not want there to be a definite, which could rule out the one they selected. But it can be argued that the creators of the Transformers universe are the ultimate gods and have say in what is true and what is not. The reality of the Transformers universe, and it depth is still fairly undeveloped and shallow. There are no definites, no true answers. So the next time someone asks you "How does Megatron shrink when he transforms into his gun mode?" you can't really boast the true answer because there is no true, official answer.

In one story line, Primus reigns supreme as the entity that created the phenomenon of the Cybertronians. In another, it is sequentially the Quintessons, Vector Sigma, and the Matrix of Light. So which one is right?

The phenomenon of enjoying a concept or group of characters is dependent on the world in which they exist, and how real that world is. One cannot enjoy something they cannot take seriously. Without realism, the concept or group of characters are naked and won't survive long in the cold. Many would argue that it is not enjoyable to watch others make that world in front of them, that perhaps the Transformers are better off without continuum. Who knows how the Transformers universe will substantiate, if it ever does. Perhaps it will evolve into a role playing experience where there is a book of rules and the audience makes their own adventures. Or will it become as tightly chronological as STAR WARS, or a little looser like STAR TREK. In my humble opinion, continuum will help secure a sense of reality in the Transformers universe, a reality which fans will most likely appreciate. Spanning out into different entertainment mediums will then be accomplished more successfully, bringing more attention to the Transformers.

Originally published in TRANS-FORUM #7 (July 1997) by the owner of SEIBERTRON.com

The Transformers Homepages

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Views: 417,925

The Internet has become the fastest, most innovative way of transferring information from one place to another. It has also become a vast resource of almost any known hobby or trivial fact.

Within the Internet lie what are termed as "web pages", which are locations in Cyberspace where documents exist. These documents are found one of two ways, either by an Internet address or through various search engines provided by the Internet browser, such as America Online or Yahoo!.

Web pages pool together information regarding certain topics and are placed in a document-like format for viewing purposes. The web pages  consist of text, pictures and sound documents which pertain to many topics. With a click of a button, you could be viewing a short clip from one of your favorite episodes of the Transformers, courtesy of the web page's owner.

These web pages have collectively united the fans of STAR WARS, BATMAN, and the Transformers by providing a space for fans to "hang out" in Cyberspace without having to travel to yearly conventions at a pricey cost.

The Transformers themselves are involved in the web pages of many individuals. One such owner of two Transformers web pages, Benson Yee, created what is now known as the Beast Wars HomePage due to its extreme popularity amongst Transformers fans.

The Beast Wars Transformers HomePage (http://acweb.com/ben/bw/) is a vast hub of Beast Wars information. Included in the web page are sites with information about the cartoon (which contains downloadable images and sounds from the cartoon series), pending information on the Beast Wars comic book series, the most recent information regarding the Beast Wars toys and release dates, and a discussion area where one can discuss his or her opinion about various Beast Wars interests.

Benson has expanded his Transformers web pages to a new web site dedicated to the newest phase in the Autobot and Decepticon history titled the Machine Wars (http://www.acweb.com/ben/mw/)! While this page remains limited in size because of the Machine Wars recent debut, it has all the information one could need. One can download images from the box art as well as facts about the toys themselves. Among the sections to visit on the web page is a discussion page as well, where you can discuss with other Machine Wars fans about your opinions.

Trans-Forum International has become the "physical" form of what exists in Cyberspace for the Transformers. Most of the images and many of the topics begin their life on the Internet before ever seeing the light of day in Trans-Forum International.

If you get a chance to "surf the net," make sure you stop by and view the Transformers home pages maintained by Benson Yee. If you would like to find out more about Benson Yee, please read the autobiography on his web site or e-mail ben at yeebe@is2.nyu.edu.

Ben, thank you very much for providing the excellent pool of information on your Beast Wars and Machine Wars homepages. Without people like yourself, Trans-Forum would be a weak form of Transformers media. With your help, it has become one of the largest Transformers newsletters in the world.